


Types of Love

by Windify



Series: The Katana Chronicles [7]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Aro!Leonardo (TMNT), Aromantic Character, Coming Out, Crushes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good Older Sibling Leonardo (TMNT), Hurt Leonardo (TMNT), Leonardo-centric (TMNT), Little Brothers, Teasing, The Author Regrets Nothing, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29151777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windify/pseuds/Windify
Summary: “There is nothing wrong with love, Leonardo.”“I appreciate your concern,” he shook of his brother’s hand, “but I assure you that I’m alright.” Liar. “There aren’t any feelings, and I mean it.”AKA three times someone thought Leo has a crush on Karai, and one time they all finally understood that he doesn’t.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Series: The Katana Chronicles [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099514
Comments: 10
Kudos: 62





	Types of Love

**Author's Note:**

> My sister: “You know you can’t make every character you relate to LGBTQ+, right?”  
> Me, a tired aroace who is sick of all the bad representation: “WATCH ME.”
> 
> No, really. I just wanted aromantic Leonardo. That’s it.

**––– 1 –––**

With eyes closed, he suppressed a groan. He was training – well, he had been trying to train – when his brothers finally stopped their argument just so they could bother him. 

“For the last time,” Leonardo started slowly, “I do not have a crush on Karai.”

Raphael grinned. “I call bullshit.”

“We all do,” Donatello coughed. 

He looked at them tiredly, sheating his swords. “I don’t care what you think, I’m saying the truth. I don’t love her or anything. Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because, my silly older brother,” Michelangelo clasped his hand on Leo’s shoulder, “you give her chances, you think about her, you just keep looking at her and even talked about her in your sleep once.”

He sighed. “I was sleeping, Mikey. I don’t have a control over what am I saying then.” There was no way he would tell them that the dream had been a nightmare. “I merely think that she isn’t completely lost. Besides, aren’t you forgetting that she is human?”

“That sounds racist, Leo.”

The look he gave his youngest brother was deadly and Michelangelo hid behind Raphael. 

“Listen,” the leader tried again, sounding tired, “no matter how many times I have to say this, I still mean it. I don’t have any feeling for Karai, okay?” 

Alright, that wasn’t the truth, but the feelings she gave him were totally different than what his brothers had in minds. He was frustrated by her, he wanted to save her from herself and the Shredder, and sometimes he was angry at her for what she was doing to them. But loving her?

No way. He was still figuring out how that even occured his brothers. 

“There is nothing wrong with love, Leonardo.”

His whole body jerked as he turned around, staring at their father with wide eyes. “Excuse me?” he blurted out. He must have misheard. There was no way his Sensei would have thought the same as his brothers, right?

Right?

But yet Master Splinter was, smiling at him and flicking his tail. “You are still young, my son. And although I do not understand why, as she is our enemy, I know that feelings are complic –”

“This is ridiculous,” he interrupted him, something he rarely did. “This is just so bizarre.” And wrong. So, so wrong. “I don’t have to listen to this. Definitely not when none of you trusts me.”

“That’s just because we know how you are with emotions, Leo.” Don laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him from storming out of the living room. “We don’t want you to get hurt, and lying to yourself won’t help you.”

Leonardo gritted his teeth, slowing down. It was true that he didn’t ecaxtly showed his feeling that often, as he had to be always prepared for when his brothers needed him, but he was also far from heartless. But that didn’t mean he loved Karai, for shell’s sake.

“I appreciate your concern, Donnie,” he shook of his brother’s hand, “but I assure you that I’m alright.” Liar. “There aren’t any feelings, and I mean it.”

This time, he didn’t let them stop him. He jumped to the second floor of the lair, heading to his rooms. He knew they wouldn’t follow him there, not after this. He locked the door, falling onto his bed with a groan. He allowed himself a moment of weakness, moment when he could show his frustration without being seen.

“Why?” he mumbled, although he knew no one would answer him. But he really didn’t know _what_ made his family think he loved Karai. He cringed at the thought, trying to chase away the idea.

Though, maybe the worst thing in this whole situation was that his whole family thought he had some feeling for her.

And that… that hurt more than he was willing to admit.

**––– 2 –––**

“Usagi!”

He threw the book he was reading away, running towards his friend. He didn’t visit often so every minute Leonardo could spend with him was precious and he didn’t want to waste their time. They had bowed to each other and clapped their hands together, smiling at each other.

“Hey, Usagi.” Michelangelo grinned at him, the turtles coming closer. “You alone?”

The rabbit samurai chuckled. “Yes. Do not worry, Michelangelo, Gennosuke stayed at home.”

“What brings you here?” Leonardo asked, silently hoping that there isn’t any problem. 

Usagi smiled at him. “Just the need to see my friend.”

Well, Leonardo couldn’t complain about that. It was always good to see a friend as dear as the ronin was, especially when it meant a quality time. Don’t get him wrong, Leonardo loves his family, but sometimes he needed a friend he could talk to without having to worry about not being strong enough.

“In that case,” Leonardo grinned, “are you up to a friendly fight?”

Just as expected, the samurai nodded eagerly. “With you always, Leonardo-san.”

The three brothers groaned, already returning to what they were doing before their visitor appeared and emptying the living room so the two sword-wielders could fight in peace. They battled every time they saw each other and while the other turtles liked fighting too, these two could go for hours without stopping.

And they did. They fought for two long hours straight, talking to each other without noticing the screeching of steel. They shared stories of their lives, things that had happened while they hadn’t seen each other. The fighting was far from heated, but it was still intense and although their blows weren’t fierce, they were both pretty exhausted when they finally ended their fight in a tie.

However, few minutes after they settled in the kitchen for a cup of tea, Splinter disrupted their rest. He greeted with Usagi, apologized for not greeting him as he was in his room meditating, and then looked at his eldest son, voice soft: “It is time for a check in the sewers.”

Leonardo sighed, knowing it’s his turn. “Can’t anyone do that for me once, Sensei? Usagi doesn’t visit that often…”

The rabbit laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll go with you, Leonardo. It’s no problem.”

Leonardo hesitated for a moment, but he wasn’t about to try to talk him out of it. Technically, Usagi could stay here with the others, but it would be like Leonardo staying with Silver Sentry – his brothers just didn’t have that much to say with Usagi.

Besides, they would be alone in the sewers. They could talk freely, without worrying that his family would hear them.

So they got up for the walk just like they were, both of them moving unnoticeably and silently. Although they trusted Donatello’s sensors and technology more than anything, they were still ninjas – and regular rounds were quite important with enemies like the Foot.

Leonardo frowned at the thought, which immediately got Usagi’s attention. “Something is troubling you, my friend,” the samurai said in a low voice, giving him space to process emotions. “Can I ask what it is?”

“Nothing in particular,” he admitted after a while. “Just thinking about our enemies.”

“Like Karai?”

The turtle froze immediately. He turned abruptly, staring right at the guilty-looking warrior. Leonardo gritted his teeth. “Not just a friendly visit, then.” No, this was supposed to be an interrogation.

This was a low blow from his family.

Usagi held his hands in front of himself in a peaceful gesture. “Your family is just worried about you,” he remarked gently. “They want you to be happy and so do I. When Splinter-san asked me to come, I had no reason to say no. But I see no point in lying to you, either.” He paused for a moment. “And it is true that I wanted to visit you.”

That was at least something. He didn’t know if it was because of the Bushidō code or because of their friendship, but he didn’t care. He was just glad Usagi wasn’t trying to lie to him.

Leonardo waved his hand. “It’s – no. Whatever Master Splinter told you, it’s not true, alright?”

Usagi’s ear twitched. “So you don’t love Karai?”

“No,” he hissed and then flinched at his own tone. “Sorry, Usagi, that was uncalled for.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Leonardo,” the samurai shook his head. “I take it you get this question often?”

The ninja groaned. “That’s quite an understatement. I have no idea why they think I feel anything towards her. I don’t, Usagi, I really don’t and it’s frustrating that they all think otherwise. But they don’t trust my words.”

“I do trust you,” his friend assured him. “However, from what I’m hearing, I’m afraid I won’t be able to convince them that you are saying the truth.”

Leonardo hung his head, defeated. But honestly, wasn’t expecting anything less. “It’s alright.” It wasn’t, but what could he do? “I appreciate that at least you don’t think I’m lying about my feelings.”

One would say they would know by now, as he lived with them his whole life. Maybe that was the problem – maybe that was why Usagi took his words. Because he knew him as a friend, not as a brother or son, which meant his point of view was different.

As if he was reading his mind, Usagi patted his shoulder, smiling at him. “They think they are helping you, Leonardo. They are only doing their bests. Do not forget that.”

“I would never.” And he meant it, he knew they just wanted to help.

But they had yet to realize that they were doing the exact opposite, and Leonardo doubted they would see it soon. He knew there was nothing wrong with feelings, knew it was normal to fall in love – but what if he didn’t? It’s been a long time since he had accepted who he was, but the comments from his brothers were pushing him towards the whole beggining. 

He returned the smile, even if it was a little strained. “Come on, Usagi, let’s move so we can go back to our tea.”

**––– 3 –––**

Leonardo was this close to killing his brothers.

It was only a few weeks after Usagi’s visit. The rabbit samurai had told his father and his brother the same thing Leonardo was telling them for a while now, and of course they didn’t believe him, although it looked like that at least Master Splinter was willing to concider that he was telling the truth the whole time.

His brothers, though, that was a whole other thing.

And well, Leonardo could survive their teasing. It wasn’t pleasant, but their whole lives were far from perfect and over the years he learnt how to deal with uncomfortable things. But even he had his own limits, ones that were about to be crossed over.

Because _what the shell_ were his brothers thinking, talking about his non-existent crush on Karai in front of the Foot?

Were they trying to get him killed, or what? Because if yes, it was working.

“It’s a pity we have to fight the Elite,” Michelangelo complained.

Raphael snickered. “Yeah, I bet Fearless would rather battle with Karai.”

“Cut the crap, guys!” he yelled, effectively silencing them. Even the Elite ninja he was fighting looked startled and Leonardo was quick to use his distraction to his own benefit.

“Whoa, Leo,” Donatello exhaled in surprise. He hit a Foot ninja with his bō, probably breaking his ribs in the proces. “What’s wrong?”

“Yeah, what gives?” Raph grumbled. “It’s not like no one else was aware of your crush.”

“He is not wrong,” Leonardo heard the Elite with a trident mumble.

The turtle whirled, a high-pitched screech on his lips. “What?” Scratch that this was the first time – and possibly the last time – they had heard the Elite speak, he had much more imporant things to deal with.

Like the Foot Clan agreeing with his brothers.

“Excuse me?” he repeated angrily. His opponent took the time to nod affirmatively, to comfirm that his brothers weren’t the only ones who thought something so ridiculous. “What is wrong with you all?” the blue leader hissed.

Michelangelo giggled, hitting three ninjas with his nunchaku. “We just can admit our feelings! You totally have a crush on Karai!”

Arguing was pointless, he was sure of that. So he dedicate his anger to his blows, focusing on beating his enemy. At last the fight wasn’t long, the Foot retrieved upon seeing they were losing, which was unsurprising. They did it nearly every time, right before the turtles could deliver the final hits. 

As soon as they were alone, the leader stormed to his brothers. “Are you crazy?”

Mikey rolled his eyes blithely. “Chill out, bro. Nothing happened!”

“Nothing happened? Mikey, do you hear yourself?” he asked in disbelief. “The whole Foot Clan might think I’m in love with Karai, which I’m _not_. But what were you _thinking_ , all of you? I’d expect it maybe from Mikey and Raph, but you, Don?”

The genius blinked at him. “What did _I_ do?”

“What do you think will happen, hm?” Leo crossed his arms over his plastron, stern look on his face. “Have you forgotten that Karai is Shredder’s daughter?” They didn’t have to answer, their guilty faces were more then telling. “I thought so.”

“Sorry, Leo,” Donatello mumbled guiltily, looking down. “We didn’t…”

But he wasn’t about to let them talk, no. “It doesn’t matter, right?” he growled, fully aware that his brothers flinched at that tone. “It doesn’t, because you don’t trust me. I know you mean well, but it wouldn’t hurt if you’d just listen to me. Why would I love Karai? I don’t, I don’t have a crush on her. But you don’t really care about what I have to say about that, though.”

They watched him with sad and hurt expressions, they looked almost scared and no one argued with him, even Raphael didn’t say anything because they knew he was right.

The blue ninja inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. “Let’s go home,” ho ordered after a while, his tone uncompromising. “We’re done for today.”

The whole way home was silent and when they got back, Leonardo immediately moved to his room and stayed there for the rest of the day.

**––– 0 –––**

They didn’t have a chance to talk about what happened.

Well, alright, they had the time, but Leonardo wasn’t in a mood for talking.

Yet nor Leonardo, nor his brothers were surprised when the sensors picked up foreign activity in the sewers. The leader ran out of his room the second he had heard the alarms, meeting with his very nervous-looking brothers.

“The Foot?” Leo asked simply.

“Definitely,” Don anwered, staring at computers’s screens with camera feeds.

Bitter ‘Told you so’ was forming on his tongue, but Leo swallowed the sentence down. He had punished them enough with his silence and reservedness, there was no need to make them feel degraded for a mistake.

“Alright.” He straightened up, glancing at them. “Let’s get on the move. They’re already in the sewers, we have to stop them before they can find our home.”

Raph gripped his sais. “Lead the way, Fearless.”

He did. They had the advantage of a well-known territory, so it took them less than three minutes to get to the Foot who stopped in a chamber where few tunnels crossed. The turtles had split up and surrounded them so they could attack from four sides instead of one, all of them waiting for Leo’s order.

What they saw, however, surprised them. The Foot ninjas were there, yes, but only a couple of them. The biggest problem was some kind of an armed robot, something huge and bulky which hardly fit in the sewers.

Wait. Not a robot, Leonardo realized upon sneaking closer to get a better look. The thing wasn’t a robot, but a robotic suit. And inside the suit was doctor Chaplin.

Leo slightly paled. After the confirmation from Elite, he should’ve expected that Chaplin will show up because the engineer had an actual crush on Karai.

Frankly speaking, he would much rather battle the Shredder or Stockman than Chaplin. The guy was bright and brilliant, and more importantly, he was an inventor, not a fighter. He cared about Karai more than he should, he cared about her more than Saki ever could.

Yeah, Leonardo could see why doctor Chapling would not take the news about his apparent crush well.

The leader frowned, eyeing his brothers who were still waiting for a signal. Quickly, he calculated how much of a stupid idea the thing he was about to do was, and then he jumped from the hiding spot, landing just a few feet before Chaplin, hands raised. “We need to talk.”

“Leo!” his brothers shouted immediately, revealing themselves from their own positions.

“The shell are ya doin’?” yelled Raph.

Although the Foot reacted with the same speed, no one attacked. Both sides were waiting for their leader’s command, even if a little impatiently.

He ignored Raph and instead looked at Chaplin. The doctor looked undecided whether he should attack or not, and Leonardo took his chance to speak till he had it. “Listen, Chaplin, this whole thing is a huge misunderstanding. You’re smart, you have to know that fight would solve nothing.” Leonardo was sure that they would beat them, eventually. He didn’t know what was Chaplin’s suit capable of, but they had Donnie. There was no way his younger brother wouldn’t figure out how to shut down the thing.

“Why should I trust you?” Chaplin asked. Even through the suit it was evident that his voice was shaking. He didn’t want to fight them either, but he was willing if it meant he could win Karai’s attention.

Leo just _looked_ at him and Chaplin winced a little. “I swear on my honor that I’m telling you the truth, Chaplin. I have no interest in Karai, no matter what my brothers or the Foot Elite Guard say.” 

“They all seem very convinced that they are right,” the doctor objected, although quite hesitantly.

Leonardo groaned slightly, hiding his face in his hands. This was not going like he wanted to and the whole situation made him nervous, because he knew there was only one way to finally end all the presumptions.

He swallowed and tapped his foot which instantly got his brothers’ attention. He could see why – he was always balanced and alert, but right now he felt restless and he didn’t like it.

The leader looked up, mentally preparing himself. _To shell with it._ “Chaplin, have you ever heard the term ‘aromantic’?”

The change of the mood was immediate. It felt like the whole sewers froze, they all stilled and no one even breathed. Nobody was ready for this kind of statement.

“What?” And that was Mikey, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

But before anyone could say anything else, the suit opened and Chaplin carefully climbed down. Unarmed, vulnerable, obviously trusting him that he wouldn’t attack. “Are you saying that you’re aromantic?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“But you’re a turtle.” Chaplin paused. “Wait, no, it doesn’t matter, you’re mutant. So… you’re saying you don’t have a crush on Karai?”

Leonardo shook his head, maybe a little too much vigorously. “No. I don’t need, nor do I want a relationship with her – or anyone, to be precise.”

“Leo, what –”

“Wait a few minutes, Raph,” he silenced him, looking right into Chaplin’s eyes. “So now when this is solved, do you agree that we all would just go our ways, this time peacefully?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Chaplin agreed. He climbed into his suit and motioned to the few Foot ninjas to retrieve. Leonardo exhaled in relief, suddenly glad that the person that come was Chaplin and not Shredder, because in this case, they didn’t have to fight.

“And Chaplin?” Leonardo called as they watched them leave. When the doctor turned, he winked at him, even though he wanted to scream. “Don’t worry. Karai will return the affection, eventually.” No one needed to know that she told him that once. After all, that was just between him and Karai.

They waited in silence until their enemie’s disappeared, and even then they were quiet for a while, just to be sure that they were really gone.

With a deep breath, Leonardo turned to face his younger siblings. He was ready for disbelief or maybe anger, but the crushing terror and sorrow on their faces took him by surprise. He grimaced, looking down, already regreting what he had done.

There was a reason he hadn’t wanted to tell them. They already thought he was mostly emotionless, so what would they think _now_? After hearing… that?

“We’d really hurt you, hadn’t we?” Don asked in a low voice.

That question startled him. Out of everything they could say, he wasn’t expecting this. “It’s alright, Donnie,” he assured him softly. “You didn’t know.” It did hurt, yes. It hurt every time they teased him about loving Karai, it hurt when they were saying that he just needed to accept his emotions. But they didn’t know, so in a certain way, Leo couldn’t blame them for trying.

“It’s not alright, Leo!” Raph snarled, stepping closer to him. “We hurt ya and we did it more then once, we did it constantly and I – we – shell!” And then Raphael was hugging him, squeezing him so tightly he couldn’t breath. “You should’ve said something.”

Mikey shook his head. “No, we should’ve realized. We should have trusted you, but we didn’t. I’m – I’m so sorry, Leo.” And now his little brother was crying, dammit, how did that happened?

“Come here, Mikey.” He wiggled a little so instead of one brother, he had two in his arms. “You too, Donnie.”

“We’re all sorry, Leo,” the genius whispered into Leonardo’s plastron. “We didn’t mean to. We didn’t.”

He shushed them gently. “I know, little brothers, don’t worry. I know.” They stood there in silence, hugging each other and Leonardo bathed in the sudden feelings, not willing to let the moment slip through his fingers. 

“So you… you really don’t love anyone?” Raph asked eventually and Leo pulled away slightly, smiling at the panicked looks they all shot at him.

“I love _you_ ,” he said. “You’re my family, you’re my brothers and that’s all I’ll ever need. Romantic desire is not something I have or want, and I’m completely happy with how things are – how we are and how I am. As long as you don’t mind.”

“Why the shell would we mind?” Raphael growled. “You’re still our brother, nothing’s changed.”

“We shouldn’t have forced you to come out like this,” Donatello added.

Michelangelo nodded. “And we’re sorry for not trusting you.”

Leonardo chuckled slightly. “As I said, it’s okay.” And he meant it. They hadn’t understood but now they did, and what more, they were accepting. “I love you and that won’t ever change.”

“And we love you,” they replied unisono.

The blue-masked leader was about to say something more, when he froze suddenly. His three brothers recoiled, alerted.

“Guys,” Leo breathed out. “We left the lair without saying anything to Master Splinter.”

They looked at each other with wide, scared eyes. “I’m sure he’ll understand,” Don peeped uncertainly.

A beat of silence before they all let go of each other and at once started running. “Wait,” Mikey abruptly blurted out. “Now that we know Leo’s aro, does that mean dad won’t give him the The Talk like he planned?”

The eldest turtle tripped. “The WHAT?”

When their only response was wild giggling, Leonardo suddenly started considering taking the thing about loving his brothers back.

 _Nah_ , he thought eventually, _I love them too much for that._

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, if you read any of my stories as turtlecest, get the fuck out of my page. Thanks. ^^  
> (Btw the only person I personally can ship with Leo is Usagi.)


End file.
